


Day 8: Frail

by Magpie_Crow



Series: Inktober 2019 [8]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Background Relationships, Cats, Coma Patient, M/M, More angst, hospital tw, there's so much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-12-01 23:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20930447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpie_Crow/pseuds/Magpie_Crow
Summary: Five months was a long time. Virgil could wait longer.





	Day 8: Frail

“Hey, Pat, I’m coming in.” Virgil opened the door gently, calling out his usual greeting. There was no response. He hadn’t expected one. 

The white walls of the hospital room seemed to mock him, despite how hard he had tried to brighten the place up. Red and green chains of construction paper hung limply from the walls, highlighting the fact that there were still handcrafted snowflakes on the window leftover from Christmas. 

He wondered if it was time to start thinking about Easter. Patton loved dying Easter eggs, and then hunting for them in exchange for candy. 

The vibrant green of plastic grass would probably look pale and faded in the harsh florescent lights.

“You’ve been asleep for nearly five months, Pat. The doctors say they’re surprised you made it this long.” He set the vase of sunflowers on the counter, next to a wilting balloon. “Roman finally got your guitar fixed up, just the way you used to have it.”

Virgil pulled out a bulky woven circle from his hoodie pocket. “I made a bracelet out of the old cords… Well, I made two, but I’m wearing one.” He fit the bracelet gently around Patton’s wrist. “Logan, the nurse with the glasses? He said it wouldn’t hurt for me to give it to you.”

Settling into the chair next to the bed, Virgil took Patton’s frail hand and held it. Five months without the light of his life had been the hardest thing he’d ever had to endure. If he were able, he would be here, sitting beside the hospital bed and talking to Patton every hour of every day, but-

“That reminds me, Pat! I’m finally certified to work at the shelter in your place. Talyn said I didn’t need to rush, that they could cover your shifts. I just. Thought it would make you feel closer if I was playing with the cats.” He reached up to brush a strand of hair away from Patton’s forehead. “Don’t worry, though, I took a shower before I came to visit.”

Five months was long enough for the nurses to stop coming into the room when Virgil was visiting unless they had to.

~~

“Mornin’ Pat.” The door clicked shut behind him, and he frowned at the still figure in the center of the room. “They took your blue blanket off, Pat. I wonder why?” 

The blanket in question was draped over Virgil’s chair. How he _hated_ thinking of the cold metal chair as _his_. He shrugged and wrapped it around his own shoulders, his hand finding Patton’s habitually. 

“I started seeing a therapist. Logan made me go… He’s the nurse, you remember, the one who sometimes raps Hamilton when he’s changing your IV?” Virgil smiled at the memory of walking in on the stoic nurse singing Guns and Ships. Logan had spun around to the sound of his laughter, flushing and then laughing along with him. 

“It’s his cousin. Nice guy, talks about cartoons all the time. You’d like him, Pat.” The tulips Virgil brought in a week before looked dispirited. He made a mental note to pick up more flowers on his way in the next day. 

“Did I tell you that Sugar finally got adopted? I know you wanted to see about adopting her… I couldn’t, not without you. The couple that took her in seems really nice, though.” Dot and Larry Sanders had invited him to come for dinner and visit the sweet dog whenever he liked. 

“You gotta wake up, Pat. Roman said that Remy said that he overheard Dee saying that Remus won’t propose to him unless you’re there to be Dee’s best man.” Patton had been the one to set Remus and Dee up, and they swore up and down they wouldn’t get married without Patton attending. 

Remus bought the ring seven months ago. 

Virgil didn’t know how many more months he could handle.

~~

“Boo!” Virgil popped his head into Patton’s room with a grin that faded as he watched the man in the bed take shallow breath after shallow breath. “It’s almost Halloween, Pat! You promised we’d dress up as Gomez and Morticia this year.”

He placed the grinning plastic jack-o-lantern next to the wreath of fall leaves Roman had dropped off the day before. “L saw me coming in and said I shouldn’t bring decorations in until at _least_ September 30th, but what does he know?”

Patton’s thin arm was brightly colored with all of the thin friendship bracelets Virgil had taken to making at night when he couldn’t sleep alone in his bed. 

“Doctor Picani says I’m doing pretty well, all things considered. Then he said something about Steven Universe. I can’t remember what it was today, ‘cause he says a lot of things about that show.” 

Patton let out a soft sigh, and Virgil echoed it. He hadn’t called for a nurse over a sigh since the second month of repeated visits to the ICU. 

“Talyn offered to let me foster one of the dogs at the shelter, but none of them fill the house like you.”

~~

“Patton!” Virgil burst into the still room like a tropical storm. He practically danced to the chair beside the bed, eyes gleaming with excitement. “You won’t believe who I met today!”  
He noticed there was a soft purple cushion waiting for him, and made a note to thank whoever had left it. “I met the only spider you wouldn’t be afraid of!”

Virgil pulled his phone out of his pocket and held the lock-screen up as if to show the image there. “It’s a black oriental shorthair! His name is Spider, and he came in the day after Halloween!” The cat peering out from his screen was gangly, with smooth fur and wide yellow eyes. 

“Talyn says his breed is hypoallergenic! I bet you’d love him.” Patton loved all the cats, and despaired not being able to play with them. “If you wake up, Pat, I’ll bring him to see you right away.” 

The hope that Patton might wake up struck Virgil oddly. He thought about it for a moment, and then felt tears welling up. 

He hadn’t had hope like that since August. Why had he given up on Patton? His best friend, the bright half of his dark coin? How in the world had he given up on his soulmate?

The beeping of the heart monitor sounded over his quiet sobs.

~~

“I adopted Spider.” Virgil didn’t look up as he entered the hospital room.

“I was under the impression that you greet the inhabitants of a room when you enter. Why break your habit now?” Logan, the nurse with the glasses, the cousin of Virgil’s therapist and rapper of Broadway songs was standing over Patton’s bed when Virgil jerked his head up. 

“L? Is something wrong?” 

“Quite the contrary, Virgil, no need to be alarmed. We did notice an irregularity in Patton’s brainwaves, but rest assured that it is a good sign.”

Logan’s words caused Virgil to slump in relief. “You had me worried there, Pat.”

“I shall leave you be, Virgil. Have a satisfactory visit.”

Virgil shot him a distracted smile, already fitting his hand into Patton’s. 

The door clicked shut behind Logan, and Virgil felt Patton’s hand spasm. “Pat?”

“……..V-rge?”

~~

“MOW.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming. Keep your tail on.”

“MOW.”

“You make the weirdest noises, are you even a cat?”

“MOW Mow MOW mOW.”

“ROMAN!” Roman’s attention was dragged away from his brother’s cat by his brother’s shout. 

“Virge? What’s-“ 

Virgil shot into the room, scarf draped haphazardly across his shoulders, hood off, and a look in his eye that Roman hadn’t seen in quite some time. “He’s awake!” 

The only thing Roman could do was stare dumbly at his brother as he scooped up the cat and danced around the room with it. 

“You’ve gotta be good luck, Spider! I wish I’d met you sooner!”

It took a minute, but a slow smile spread across Roman’s face. He had some phone calls to make.

**Author's Note:**

> I offer no apology.  
At least there was a happy ending this time?
> 
> I set up a Discord server! <https://discord.gg/gtWgvQ4>  
Join me to talk about my writing and stuff!
> 
> Find more on tumblr @we-are-fam-ily


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